Willow Willow : A Collection of Short Stories

by Ani Kayode

Willow Willow is an eclectic collection of short stories that trace the stories of queer Nigerians, and what it means to be queer in Nigeria. It follows these characters as they navigate their queerness in a society where it is criminalized, and paints vivid stories with engrossing characters similar, and yet so different. It is a thought-provoking book that takes the reader through an invigorating experience told in different genres and in different styles. In An Oak Tree Dies Slowly, Ani unites the lives of different queer men into a single voice as they come of age in the Obasanjo administration of the early 2000s, and follow their paths as they fall to the unavoidable certainty of age. In Paskan-Jake Baby, a young woman deals with the pain of having a lover who refuses to commit to her, a man who can not love her back, and whom she does not know how to dissociate from. Taunted by the experiences of the women who raised her, she must map out her own happiness. On Rainy Mornings, a Lagos man’s life is shattered when his boyfriend decides to get married to a woman. It details emotions of pain, desperation and anger, as they try to salvage their relationship. Won’t You Sing Me A Song tells a tale of hope, promise, loneliness and desolation as a gay man is betrayed by a man he is falling in love with. In The Bird That Fluttered Free, Ani masterfully uses language to explore the complexity of family, death, and shame between lovers. The story depicts the loneliness of a Nigerian student as he tries to hold on to the love of a man who is ashamed of him. In the title story, Willow Willow written in verse, the protagonist struggles to move on from an unhappy childhood and to reconcile with her mother, who's husband abused her. In A Little Bit of Something, a Nigerian student plagued by clinical depression tries to cope under the crushing guilt of his mother's disappointment and unhappiness. Though he finds reprieve in the love a schoolmate, his life is again thrown into turmoil as he confronts his lover’s graduation. Diverse in language and intricate in style, these stories explore the bonds that hold mother and child, what it means to live a criminalized existence and how such an environment affects love. It explores themes of desolation, loneliness, pride, hope and our most human yearning, for love and freedom.

78 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 22, 2020